Chaos Knights Tactical Guide | Warhammer 40,000 Tactical Guide

• Playing the Primary Mission can be difficult due to their small size and reliance on War Dogs for Objective Secured
• Secondaries can also be quite tricky to choose and achieve, due to being locked out of choices, or being hard to score with in the first place
• A particularly swingy army, as an unlucky turn or two can put you up against it, whilst likewise an army that can’t handle much armour will struggle with you
• Can have unfavourable interactions with Terrain, limiting your movement and firing lanes 
• Being all Vehicles that degrade can impact the army’s effectiveness as the battle progresses and your Knights are damaged

Your TITANIC units can Fall Back and Charge, and for the umpteenth time, Fall Back and Shoot is in the Core Rules for all TITANIC models, please go read the Core Book, it tells you lots of stuff like this that don’t need to be asked. In addition, you can move over all non-VEHICLE/MONSTERS as if they weren’t there, whenever you make a Normal Move, Advance or Fall Back. Shame you can’t step over things when Charging, but I suppose you are going into a sprint or something? Effectively means your TITANIC Knights will always be able to pick and choose their targets, so a lone Marine surviving melee with them won’t suddenly shut down a quarter of your army, and screening against them will require spacing out a lot, or tanks, giving you a modicum of flexibility in manoeuvring, despite your other disadvantages when it comes to things like terrain.

All WAR DOGS in a unit must be set up within 6” of at least one other model in the unit when deploying, and then they act as individual units from that point on, for the rest of the game. Effectively just means you have to deploy any units of War Dogs near each other, though afterwards they get to roam around freely. It’s actually a fairly large area to deploy in if you have 3 in the squad, so it’s not too restrictive, just make sure you can place all the dogs within range when setting up other Knights, as you can find yourself rapidly running out of room on some maps, forcing you to deploy out of position, or be outright destroyed. 

Another thing to note, needing to deploy 1-3 dogs together generally means you have around 5 deployment drops to make, so the choice of Attacker or Defender when deploying should only really matter for terrain layouts (though if you’re playing at tournaments, that’s pretty much a fake choice as every battle in the 41st Millenium is on Planet Mirror City), so you will be out deployed. Consider this when it comes to anti tank units in your opponent’s force, as they will likely leave any prime tank hunter until you’re fully deployed.

Any ability that has made reference to Dread Range or Dread Tests is covered here.

• Dread Range- Dread Range is 12”, and is not an Aura so can’t be affected by any rules that might turn them off or adjust them. This will mostly tie in with the Harbingers of Dread ability below, but there are a few other rules that key off the range.
• Dread Tests- When a unit has to make a Dread Test, the controlling player (ie your opponent) needs to roll 2D6 for that unit. If the result is greater than the highest Ld in that unit, the Dread Test is failed and then something happens. The average on 2D6 is 7, so most units will be passing this, however you have a fair number of ways to lower enemy Ld, and there’s still no guarantee of a pass, even if there’s a small chance. Also worth noting that these are not Morale Tests, so anything that grants immunity or modifiers to Morale has zero impact here.

The “Pure” Army rule for the Chaos Knights, you get a series of stacking modifiers as the game proceeds, with a new one becoming active at the start of each Battle Round. 

They’re divided into 3 categories- Doom, Despair and Darkness. Rounds 1 and 5 you can only pick Doom, whilst in Rounds 2-4 the category you can choose depends on what you chose in the previous Battle Round. You can always choose the same category, Doom lets you choose either Despair or Darkness, whilst those Despair/Darkness can only choose Doom. 

Like this: Despair ↔ Doom ↔ Darkness 

As you can only go from Despair to Darkness (and vice versa) by spending a Battle Round to go via Doom, or by using certain rare abilities, you’ll want to plan ahead at least a little bit. Make sure you are in a position to choose the most beneficial power in a given match up, though you also want to be careful you aren’t choosing an ability that is otherwise not that useful, though in some matchups the sacrifice of that Round’s ability might be worth it for the future play. 

With a good spread of defensive and disruptive abilities here, they can help turn stacked odds against you, and certain abilities can be game changing in the late game if utilised well. The thing to consider is the radius of Dread is fairly generous, and huge chunks of the enemy army can be impacted as the game proceeds, and if they are affected it can assist the rest of your army, even if individuals aren’t close to the enemy in question. 

Most abilities are Dread abilities, as explained above, and are marked with a *.

Most, if not all of your hounds, will have access to at least one of the following.

Sporting two War Dog Autocannons, these are all manner of infantry and light tank shredders, with each gun chucking out 2D3 Str 7 -2 Dmg 3 shots, and at a mighty 60” Range pretty much all the board is a target, visibility permitting. They can have a Diabolus Heavy Stubber, or for +5pts a Daemonsbreath Meltagun. Great for holding your backfield whilst still laying down nasty fire support, it also keeps them away from melee as long as possible, where they are far less effective, with their weapons being Heavy, and of course, not being able to fight their way out too effectively (though their cannons aren’t Blast so you can use them in a pinch). Whilst they can struggle against particularly tough units, especially those with T8, 2+ Svs, Invulnerable Saves or AP reductions, as a support element they are a solid generalist choice, though at 155pts they are one of the most expensive Dogs, so going for lots of them will result in a slightly trimmer than usual army. 

A light Infantry mulcher, with options for dealing with heavier stuff in melee, the Stalker brings an Avenger Chaincannon for a dependable Assault 12, Str 6 -2 D1 at 36” Range, and a choice of Slaughterclaw or Reaper Chain-talon for melee. They also come with a Diabolus Heavy Stubber, or for 5pts can have a Havoc Multi-launcher for their secondary weapon, and can also swap out their Chaincannon for a Deamonsbreath Spear, though that can be done by the Huntsmen below already for a slightly more dedicated role (unless you’re really keen on having one with a Slaughterclaw). A good mid range price point of 145pts makes them an excellent choice for the bulk of your forces.

A basically purely melee Dog (barring the Stubber or Havoc choice), they come with both a Chain-talon and Slaughterclaw, giving them great versatility in melee. They also get +2″ Mv, +1 WS and +1A over their brethren, lending them further potency in melee. Given that’s all they do however, you’ll want to get them to grips with the foe quickly, and make good shock troops to bear down on your opponents lines and push units off Objectives, and give breathing room to your next wave. The cheapest (slightly) at 140pts, though of course only really having output in Melee, getting there is the crucial bit.

Another shooty Dog, opting for a versatile loadout of the Avenger Chaincannon and a Daemonsbreath Spear, letting you tackle both Light Infantry as well as vehicles and Monsters, all from relative safety. The shorter range compared to the Executioners Autocannons does make them more susceptible to being tagged in melee, though being able to deal with a variety of targets and with set shots makes them a bit more reliable in shooting your way out. Their versatility does come with a cost however, being tied for the most expensive War Dog at 155pts, and the slight variation in weapon ranges as well as preferred targets means positioning is key for them.

Coming with a Chain-talon and Deamonsbreath Spear, the Huntsman is an anti-tank and anti-elite unit damage dealer, with the ability to deal with lighter units if needed via their Chain-talon Sweep. They can also upgrade their Stubber to a Meltagun for 5pts to further hone in on the anti-tank role. Generally you won’t be one-shotting a tank however, outside of some good luck, so you’ll need to finish it off in melee or with other units, however the Huntsman is a good all round unit for dealing with numerous units and pushing for Objectives. At 145pts, they’ll likely be one of the mainstay units for the army.

Most of your big Knights will have access to at least one of the following.

Your base Abhorrent class, getting the most flexible wargear options and making them the “generalist” of the four, and they grant WAR DOGS within 9” the ability to Heroically Intervene, handy for those that are on Objectives, or are working in pairs and one is charged. Starting at 375pts, you can pretty much mix and match your weapons, whether its a Main Gun and Melee Weapon, 2 Main Guns, or 2 Melee weapons as well as some ancillary weapons to boot, letting you either dedicate them to a role, or be able to deal with a variety of targets. They can quickly add up in cost with their weaponry, and it does cost you an additional 20pts to take 2 of the same Main Gun or 2 Melee Weapons, and whilst you do get +1 Attack in the first round of combat with the 2 melee weapons, it’s probably worth the 5pts more to be a RAMPAGER instead for their built in stat buffs.

The first of the more “set loadout” Knights, the Desecrator comes with either a Chainsword or Claw for Melee (either one is free, so your choice), a Heavy Stubber, and a Desecrator Laser Destructor, a solely anti tank gun that fires 2 Heavy shots at 72” Range, hitting at Str 14 -5 Dmg 6+D3. It also has +1 WS, making it a bit better in a fight, as well as a 9” Aura of Reroll 1s to Hit for Ranged Attacks made by WAR DOGS, letting it support your lines a bit as well. A bit of a mixed bag, as the Laser Destroyer looks nasty on paper, but realistically will still struggle to hurt something as little as a Rhino, so keeping him back isn’t really viable, despite what his Aura implies. Yes there will be times he instantly nukes something like a Tyrannofex or Land Raider, but those will be few and far between, and hedging your bets on that happening will only lead to disappointment. Instead he’s better off leading a horde of Dogs into battle, softening up a big target for them to jump on or plink down with guns to finish them off, and then utilise his better WS in melee against other targets. At 400pts, he’s reasonably priced provided you use him actively, pressuring the foe whilst facilitating your hounds output on their way in. 

The final Knight that is set in its ways, but a whole bunch of flexibility by virtue of their base wargear as well as being a PSYKER. Knowing and Casting 2 gives them nice utility from the Warp Storm Discipline, and Denying 1 might not save you against Psychic heavy foes, but can prove crucial against vital powers like Null Zone or Doom, or against Secondaries like Mutate Landscape. Their weapons are a mixed bag, being fairly middling by Knight standards but potent in the right circumstances. At range they have a Stubber, but more exciting is the Volkite Combustor, firing 6 Heavy shots at 30” and hitting at Str 10 AP-1 and Dmg 3, but with 6s to Wound doing 3 Mortal Wounds in addition. This helps make it capable of dealing with both heavily armoured units and hordes alike, though you’ll often need those 6s to spike to do significant damage, as the AP-1 is fairly insubstantial, though the Dmg 3 and set number of shots can still cause nasty output on the right targets. Melee wise they do only have 3 Attacks, but this is offset by their Electroscourge tripling those attacks, and hitting at Str 8 -2 Dmg 3, effectively trading off some AP of the Chainsword’s Sweep for more Damage. The 1 less base attack is somewhat offset by their tail attack Balemace, hitting for an additional D3 Attacks at -2 D2, so you aren’t lacking too much. They also have pet birds, giving them the PTERROSHADES Keyword, for what that’s worth. A solid all rounder, their access to the Psychic Powers and their decent weaponry make them adept at dealing with a number of targets, though they will suffer with the low AP on their weaponry, meaning they’ll have to rely on their somewhat unreliable Mortal Wound output, Relics, or being ICONOCLAST, in order to make up for their shortcomings in that regard. At 430pts they have the potential to be potent on the field, though it’s worth ensuring they have some DOGS nearby to help with particularly beefy or harder targets they might otherwise struggle with by themselves.

A pure melee Knight, coming with both Chainsword and Claw for melee flexibility, and a 9” Aura that grants WAR DOGS Reroll 1s to Hit with Melee Attacks. With a built in +2” Mv, +1 WS and +1 A over the base Abhorrent chassis, the Rampager is fairly cost effective for their 400pts, as whilst you must be in melee to be effective, you’ll generally murder whatever it is you’re fighting when there, and your lack of ranged weapons (no your Stubber doesn’t count) means you can Advance Turn 1 with no loss of output if you aren’t likely to make combat. Whilst this can put them in a dangerous position, the counterargument is a) You have more than 18 Wounds you were never safe from Shooting to begin with, and b) Your opponent has to deal with you, as ignoring you just means you’re crashing into them next turn. Now being purely melee does mean you can be screened out against the targets you really want to fight, and chopping your way through a horde of lesser Infantry isn’t exactly a good use of your cost, so make sure you have ways to thin those screens before you get there, or at least get rid of enough of them that they won’t be able to fully block out your charge on their key targets. As mentioned above, this is a much better choice over a 2 Melee Weapon Despoiler, unless you’re either desperate for the Intervention Aura, need to shave off 5pts, or just like being inferior I guess. 

In the spirit of the book, we’ll call you the Daemonshatter Baron. It means nothing, but sounds cool. The long range variant, this costs you 10pts more but that’s generally a sound deal for the weapons you get. For that you get a Brimstone Volcano Lance for anti tank, and a Ectoplasma Decimator for anti elites. The Lance fires D3 Shots at a frankly unnecessary 80” Range, hitting at Str 16 AP-5 and a whopping 8+D6 Damage, along with Blast just cos. Whilst on paper impressive, it suffers the same issues as the Laser Destroyer on the DESECRATOR above, namely that it will, on average, struggle to one shot certain things, though it is much less likely. On the other arm, the Decimator fires 2D6 Shots at 48”, at Str 8 -4 D2 Blast, or can overcharge to Str 9 and Dmg 3, though at the risk of suffering 2 Mortal Wounds for each 1 to Hit, making it a risky proposition (and means Trail of Destruction is almost mandatory when you can use it), albeit a highly scary one. Both of these weapons will serve you well through the game, though both having random shots does mean they aren’t the most reliable. Whilst they will average out over the course of the game, that’s not really something you need with Knights, as every turn has to count lest you fall behind on output. There’s unfortunately no real way round it though, so you’ll have to remember for every turn it powers up and obliterates multiple units, there’s a turn lurking round the corner ready to send you to Whifftown. 

Again, not official, but you have now been dubbed the Soulbreaker Thane, cos I’ve decided it, so there. The “close combat” version, though only by virtue of its guns being 18” Range, this one comes with the Darkflame Cannon for crisping infantry, and the Warpshock Harpoon for spearing big gribbles. The Darkflame Cannon chucks out a respectable 3D6 shots at Str 7 -2 D2 alongside autohitting, meaning even on their bottom bracket this can put out some nasty hurt. The stats are decent enough at cooking most light to medium infantry, though falls short of dealing with particularly tough units. On the flipside, Harpoon fires but a single shot, though it does get +1 to Hit against non-AIRCRAFT VEHICLES and MONSTERS. Should it hit, it does so at Str 16 AP-6 and Damage 10, plus any time it’s allocated to model (ie you successfully Wound it), they take an additional 3 Mortal Wounds. Effectively, if you hit it and it doesn’t have an Invulnerable, it’s probably dead, or at the very least heavily crippled. It also allows you the honour of being the best of players, as single shot anti tank weaponry isn’t exactly reliable, but then counterpoint, you brought a harpoon gun to a gunfight. On a more serious note, it’s not the most reliable, as after averaging die results you might be lucky to kill a Rhino every other turn, so it’s not exactly great. But it’s a lot of fun. And this is a game, shockingly. All told, this variant is perhaps not as reliable as the shooty one, especially by virtue of their lower range coupled with their slow speed meaning they may not even do much in the first turn, but they aren’t as bad when degraded due to their accuracy buffs, and can offer some reliability when they do inflict damage that you might be sorely missing.